Court documents reveal secretive federal unit deployed for 'Operation Diligent Valor' in Oregon

By Gabriella Borter
July 22, 2020

Reuters - "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has deployed more than 100 federal agents to #PortlandOregon, on a mission named '#OperationDiligentValor' to patrol government buildings as anti-racism protests flared this month, court documents show.

"The documents, filed on Tuesday, helped shed light on what had been a secretive operation that involved days of violent clashes between unidentified federal law enforcement officers and #AntiRacist #protesters outside a federal courthouse.

"The operation has involved the Department of Homeland Security's #RapidDeploymentForce. It stepped up its response to "increasingly violent attacks" in the Oregon city on July 4, the day after a group of people broke into the courthouse, according to the affidavit by the Federal Protective Services (#FPS) regional director, Gabriel Russell.

"The affidavit was filed by the Department of Homeland Security [#DHS] and the U.S. Marshals Service as part of a broader lawsuit brought by journalists against the city of Portland and those agencies. The plantiffs claim that police had attempted to 'intimidate the press' by attacking journalists."

Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/court-documents-reveal-secretive-federal-unit-deployed-for-operation-diligent-v-idUSKCN24N2SH/